Guitar Building, the adventure continues...: January 2013

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My adventures with guitar building 101

The journey has begun, well it began years ago. I am on a new journey pushing my limits with art, creation, patience, wood, tools, working with others and trying to bridge my love of craft with music. I love working with my hands and usually like things I can finish fast and have instant or close to instant satisfaction, Photography was perfect for this, Jewelry was also and had the added satisfaction of having a work that felt great in the hand, I love Photos but never enjoyed the paper aspect or the flat non beautiful feel of something to caress and hold and every side is something to admire like a gorgeous stone or piece of wood, metal sand, thorns, antlers bones, crystals nature at it's beginning.
It gets me so high so this new obsession and yes it is an obsession is where my day begins and ends everyday. This blog is about this and more who knows what will be said and what will come of it, it is my mind expansion spot so please have some humor with my love of discovery. Also this blog is and isn't linear as i update many pages after the fact, I go back and re write posts, edit them add new discoveries of that moment with what I know at the more present moment, yes I am obsessed.

First day of build I was extremely nervous, I had lost the glasses I use for close work and to read with so was at a disadvantage but knew I could get by.

I got to Ed’s golden guitar gallery ready to work. goldenguitargallery.com
We jumped right into it picking a book matched piece of sitka spruce and proceeded to glue them together.
The jig was simple and very effective. a shooting base with a fixed board on one side and another on the other side that gets clamped down.
when the pices are glued and then the clamps are losened a bit and clamps are placed across t hold the sides together slightly. I then with a mallet go down center seam to make sure they are flush, then put a long board over and clamp that down..
good to have wax paper or tape on board so the squeeze out glue doesnt stick to shooting board.
I then looked at the birds eye maple back and sides .

A week before I had gone out to Nazareth with Chris Arkin who had introduced me to Ed at the Woodstock Luthiers exhibit. I then asked ED to teach me the art, he agreed and he showed me a Flame top maple guitar he was working on and that's when I decided I wanted a Maple guitar, He said He had a nice set of birds eye and then it was a done deal. I saw the pieces the next week and got excited.

(sorry for poor writing and out of sequence photos etc i just wanted to get something up and did a mind dump in a few hours while trying to figure out blogger, hopefully i will edit and get better at this)

I’ve built furniture and made jewelry been a photographer gardener writer, poet, musician and all around restless soul, and always wanted to bend wood and here I am with Ed showing me how using a mold and heat and the OOO was coming into shape. I think I chose the rosette also and started forming it the second day where we also cut and glued the front and back blocks on the sides. Guitar is now looking like something.

Trying to remember all the steps involved 3 weeks after the start of the build, should have been writing daily oh well

After getting the rosette on which I needed a lot of help as I chose a rather detailed one for my first. I started to get the braces lined up and glued, I used a martin triple O template to get the basic spots for them which changed later as it was to close to the sound hole, when I do this again I wont use a template that was rolled up and crumpled it made it hard to get an idea where they actually go, I will make a plexiglass one or will make a stiffer board one.

Glued X brace first Ed showing me left over right brace then set onto sound board with glue and clamped, need to get just enough glue for a little squeeze out but not to much which makes for an easier clean up later, had a wet rag ready to clean up what I could from the beginning.

Then preceded to do the rest of the braces ones above sound hole and then the bottom ones the last ones were the 2 above X braces and the 3 around sound hole.

After they were dried I sanded and cleaned a bit and started to carve the braces, this takes some skill and Ed made it look easy.

Actually did the bracing marks before the rosette.

It was time to cut out and bend the sides, Ed had cut the sides prior so all I had to do was bend the sides, Ed has a great jig/mold for this with a heating pad, so I got the maple wet lightly and we put the wood on the mold keeping it centered placed the heating pad on top and started to clamp down the center and then pulled the front and back clamps into place we let it sit for at least ten minutes and let it cool there from there I put it into the mold to help keep the shape and we proceeded to do the other side and then had them both in the mold.

I received the Jonathon Kinkead book “ Build your own Acoustic Guitar” while building the guitar and now it makes much more sense what Ive been doing and what the book is describing. If I saw the book before it wouldn’t have made as much sense, it is a great book I also got the Cumpiano/Natelson book “Guitar making” which is great and very detailed and way to complicated for a first time build but as I am learning it is coming in handy and will be great for the future.

kerfed

In the mold I lined up the neck brace and the tail brace to center and cut the sides to meet in the center. And then glued the braces onto the sides, this was exciting for now I had something that is looking like a guitar!

After that dried I started the next day putting the kerfing on making sure they all matched in color and thickness and making sure to not have to much squeeze out.

After many clamps and clothes pins I had one half a side done then I did the next and the next day did the other side, making sure the back looked good so when you look in the sound hole it look’s finished and professional, (yet to see how this will pan out)

I now have a glued up and kerfed rim

Ed's "Brunette" Koa wood

Ed got inspired and is building a guitar at the same time, this helping a lot so I can be apart of his build and learn even more. He has chosen Koa for back and sides and a redwood top, the top he bought at the Woodstock Luthiers show and is where I met him. I watched him choose this piece and asked him why he was choosing it as he was checking the others. He said he liked the look and how it sounded when he tapped it, this by the way was the beginning of my training with ED although at the moment neither of us knew it.

Just to go back a bit I met Ed and Danny and a few other Martin Guys through a new friend Chris Arkin who is a guitar lover and one of my clients in High Vibe where he loves our strawberries.

He was in my shop one day and we got talking guitars and before you know it 2 hours were gone and we had a lot more to talk about. He gave me his card said to call him and we would go to Martin factory and get a personal tour!.

I will get back to that but that was the actual beginning of this journey.

So Eds guitar is koa and redwood , very cool my next guitar Koa possibly.

I now have the rim done after hours of sanding on the radius board! Which I guess I should describe in detail but wont as it sucked large guitar player balls.

And the soundboard all braced and carved and it cut closer to final shape.

I have the neck stock picked out and have glued the fret board on and have a piece of rosewood veneer glued to the slotted headstock.

I now have routed on the tail end a slot where I will add a blood wood and black binding and glue it in,

Time to glue the back together,

blood wood and rosewood strips for center

chosen wood detail

glued and weighted

glued up

blood wood glued in tail

Glued and waiting to be scraped and sanded, must say it looks hot!

blood wood glued in center detail

Ive decided to do Blood wood and rosewood down the center and this will look great I am sure. The gluing of the back was like the gluing of the sound board which I didn’t mention earlier how I was shown. Ed has a jig with one side fixed and the other not, you put both sides on the board matched evenly put the other non fixed side in a little closer adding a little 1” or so box under the center of the board helps to get the spacing then you clamp down that side, at this point check the location again and make sure all is centered add the glue evenly and then take the spacer out and press the board down so it is snug running a mallet or something to make sure it is flat and even then clamp the side boards together so it is tighter do the mallet again and then put a caul in and place and camp at least 6 clamps and let sit for a while. I think it was at least a few hours.

Ed and I are joking that we are building a set of twin guitars his a dark exotic one and mine a Nordic blonde, we need names for them.
the brunette and the Blonde and these babes will be hot smart and have voices that will be so sultry smooth and hot.

Gluing the back was a bit complicated for me at first until I yelled “ED come help”!

And as usual he showed me an easier way to do it, so great having him around.

He showed me to put the three center strips glued together closer to the board before putting all the sides down I was trying to go from way to high up way easier I then did the mallet on the sides and then clamped from top and sides.

Ed is almost caught up in the build his top is glued his kerfing on and still has to do back and bracing of soundboard.

He is deciding on blood wood or rosewood binding and is leaning to rosewood he has glued in a sweet wood rosette and is thinking of adding more and has chosen a headstock veneer

( what i was thinking before the build)

Guitar basics

000 parlor 12 fret 14 fret haven’t decided

Sitka spruce top (large cross/dagger inlay 3 for rosette?)

Birds eye maple back and sides

Mahogany slotted neck

Ebony fingerboard (cross/dagger inlay fret markers)

Possible birds eye maple veneer on headstock?

Blood wood or dark binding

Cross/dagger inlay fret markers

Cross/dagger inlay 3 for rosette?

Cross/dagger inlay on headstock

Possible rosewood or other dark wood for tail

Possible dark wood down spine of back? Simple

Possible mother of pearl around body or crosses? Or not

Details will work there way in when at that point.

day 7 and it is Dec 7th

and thats just what it is, started day in the rain driving out to PA, went to Martin store which sells all parts to build guitars and has seconds you can get was looking at hard shell cases but they havent a 12 fret 000 in stock, they are great and said they would hold one when one comes in. I also picked up back braces for Ed's Brunette and my blonde.

soundboard and back

drove over to the shop and Ed was there and we chatted a bit I wanted to get started so i got right to it asking ed the best order to go . I wanted to get the sound board and back all ready to be glued up today.
I glued up the braces and clamped them down and waited for them to dry, I also had clean up the soundboard more and when the clamps came off cleaned up the back sanding and getting rid of excess glue, as i want it to look really good when you look in the sound hole had to add a millimeter of spruce to clean up a minute gap but Ed is adamant on things looking perfect, I am glad he is really clear about this and I want that also as perfection isnt a bad thing to strive for (this guitar is far from perfect)

gluing back braces

Day 8, Dec 8th

Day 8 was about guitar wrestling and man it was frustrating humbling hair pulling and as I was getting frustrated Ed kept saying that this step is always frustrating for everyone. Was not making me feel better, it still sucked. Had to keep side form in mold and trim braces and kerfs so the top and bottom fit together like a puzzle piece. which meant using a dremel on kerfs and a swa and chisel on braces. what seems like a simple task took me hours, yes it was my first time and yes I will get better at it and yes I loved hating it.

Dremeling back kerf notches

Cutting kerf notches

I took the day very slow and easy always trying to get my work station neater and easier to find things, I am feeling very comfortable now at Golden Guitar workshop and trying to make order out of the workspace chaos. It works for Ed as it his place and I talk with him about making it even better and well organized so he can have more students at one time and be more productive and professional. The othe people working today were joking about my cleanliness, A guy named phillip was working on many necks today and didnt stop talking for a minute even when Ed and I were discussing my build or things in general, Phillip was fun to have around and I kept him amused with jokes and telling him anything that was going wrong was his fault.
Mean while Chris the golden guitar manager was hangin about talking and watching the kids and people coming in the shop and he took the pictures I added today.

What a great day I was feeling very confident then I was feeling total despair at how my mind doesnt think so precise,

I got the back finally glued on and that process had my hands Chris and Ed's hands and a stack of clamps, this was my first time doing it and I look forward to the next time where i wont be so freaked by it. It is now drying and setting and I will get the soundboard on next session. I had visions of having both front and back on by the end of the weekend but nooooo that was not in the guitar gods thoughts or it was and there now just smiling.

Ed Helping Phillip with a neck

Here Ed is helping Phillip with a neck that he is working on. Ed is great at teaching and is so patient, (a bit stoned I think ) maybe that's why he is so chill. Who knows all i know is I want to get his shop in a really great and organized space so I can work there all the time!
I want to build over head loft above window for all the guitar cases then the area in front of the window can be a work table and the blinds can be open for more light. The bench I am working on needs to be braced and re done so it doesnt move, possibly with wheels that lock so it can be moved out and you can walk around it which means very little under it except things that are necessary.

Day 9

Clamping top

Clamping Top

Justin and me checking clamps

What a great day, I first routed the excess back piece to the sides going with the grain of course to not have any tearout, that went smooth enough, then cleaned up the inside back and fixed kerfs and added glue to fill in where needed, sanded to make look nice and was then ready to get top ready to glue on.
I then clamped top on which was a bit of guitar wrangling to keep the sides straight so as to not have a off centered and twisted body, no easy feat and had to make sure the top and sides met without any gaps, fine little chiseling and sanding to get it right.
very satisfying.
Then lined up tail and proceeded to add glue and clamp, Justin helped get clamps on, I have to say working at Ed's is amazing whoever is there usually helps and has something to say to help, unless its Chris G he is there to have fun at your expense. He is a great guy and adds a cool vibe to the shop oh and has taken most of the picts with me in it actually all of them! Thanks Bad boy!!
When i get my shop together I am going to have 1 million clamps! cant ever have to many.

I also re did the veneer on the headstock i had some tear out and wasn't happy with my execution so I heated the rosewood and chiseled it off, I then added a Red type wood with a cool look and sandwiched a rosewood piece under it so there will be maple, rosewood then red wood peaking through the slots. hope it looks good.
well its glued and will see how it looks when cut and sanded.

back glued on

we're jammin

love the inside!

Routing back

routing back

checking the route

Day 10

Finally have a body and a sexy one, pulled her out of the mold while being Filmed by Michael for a you tube video for golden guitars on my guitar build.

Cant wait to see footage.

Today i trimmed the sides and did some sanding,

I was so fried from the long week I didn't do much today.

Saw Stones on Thursday night, then two days commuting to Nazareth

We did jam a bit I was Playing Angelos guitar which was the first one he ever made!

(Picture of him Playing it in the Golden Guitar Posse post)

You Sexy Thing


Proud Papa

Jammin a sweet love song

Portrait of a Happy Person

Guitar body day 10

Portrait

Day 11 and 12 Binding with Justin

Binding bound

Ok Kids here we are day 11 and 12 I believe , there all a blur at this point, the commuting is having its toll!
Ed suggested to bring Justin in to help me with this point of the project as Justin is an incredible Binder and guitar builder, before he worked in repairs at Martin Guitars he was a binder there and could do up to 25 guitars in a day!.
I have chosen a wood binding which is much harder to do and really needed his expertise.
I first started with bending the Bloodwood as I did when bending the sides,
wrapping the Bloodwood in hot wet rags, getting the mold hot and then clamping them in and letting the mold and heat bend them to shape. I did 2 at a time and they were done.
After this I routed out the top and back sides with the channel the Binding would sit in.
I as in every step using a router was nervous and as usual Ed took the guess work out of it and it went smoothly, Justin was very concerned with the grain of the Maple and didn't want me to have any tear out so we marked the directions carefully on each side, not the quick turn on and go around one way that I would have loved to do.
The router loosened up at one point and my cut was less then perfect, and as everything else at Ed Golden's guitar gallery (I Should say " Chris G's" goldenguitargallery.com ha ha Chris is the best and all the photos with me and many others he took)
there was a way to fix it.
So I am now routed My binding is bent and now as always the FUN part begins, (that's sarcasm FYI) Justin gets me started on the filing of the rout to get the Binding to sit perfectly in the route, this task was long and tedious and I am glad Justin was there to guide and finish up what I did to get it as perfect as I could.
The back side rear bout is pretty straight forward and the fron bouts need more work as the angle is different and needs to be leveled and deepened more, I was reading in a book The Kinkead book that he uses a table router and changes the angle for both sides, I mentioned this to ed and he showed me a jig he had there and said It was Danny Browns who hated it and there we have it hand route and then file!. I am still going to experiment with adding a thin wedge to router base to create a slight angle to help get closer to a fitting route and will see if helps with cutting out enough of the filing to make it worth it.

routing top side

checking binding to the route

I am about to start gluing the binding on
Here it takes a lot of tape and thumb strenghth
It takes firm pressure down and in and pullin the tape taunt.(sorry no pictures here but it takes a lot of spall pieces a tape!)


routing top side

Chris grabs an intense view of me routing, we had 30 takes to get the right mood and feeling and proper lighting. ;-)

Justin Explaining The filing

Justin checking my work

Justin Filing and showing a high spot

Getting ready to Glue!

Here we are Justin showing the taping and me being a tape dispenser.

Justin showing the start of taping

Actually before the taping I cut the end of the binding to the center of the back giving a little leeway so when the binding is tight it will still line up straight and centered (which it did woo)